Greg Hall's Next Venture: Cider

Eater Chicago has more details on the news the Tribune broke last week about Virtue Cider, Greg Hall's post-Goose Island venture.

Halls plans on marketing "farm-to-bottle" cider using apples from local orchards like Seedling and Nichols Farm, with an early 2012 target date for the first ciders to come from his production line. Virtue will start with draft cider and later bring in a bottling line. Hall also plans on building said production facility in southwestern Michigan, where real estate is cheaper.

Hall, who recently completed a tour of cider makers across Europe, believes the time is right for some diversity in the marketplace.

"There's a lot of room for innovation [and] a lot of room in cider making to adjust the final product," Hall said. "The apples are a big deal, of course, but there's things in the process you can do by changing the color through maceration time, you can add yeast to it, barrel aging. Over the last 20 years we've made a whole bunch of beers, and the next 20 years we'll make a whole bunch of ciders, too."

Hall envisions Virtue to expand nationally, but will focus on Illinois and Michigan for now.